Black and Blue
by sunsetstargazer
Summary: Dell thought he had met the woman of his dreams but is she really. Little things keep happening and he's not sure if he should be worried or not but she is always so apologetic and she would never hurt him really. Would she?
1. Chapter 1

Black and Blue

 _A/N So I'm not sure why I want to write this but it feels like it could be a really good story, not that I think anything that happens to Dell in it should ever happen. It's going to be an abuse storyline about Dell and I want to stress now please don't read unless you're sure you want to, it will feature physical and verbal domestic abuse and all the things that accompany that so don't read unless you're prepared for that, though it's not too bad I just wanted to warn people. And as usual I own nothing…_

"Hey, how was your date last night, you said you were meeting up with a girl right?" Addison asked Dell as he walked into the kitchen. The others around the table turned to look at him for his response.

"It was good, she was really nice and we're going for dinner tonight" Dell responded smiling, he had met up with Susie last night for a drink and they had had a great time.

"Good, you have fun tonight with her and remember protection" Addison called after him as he went back out to the waiting area and he couldn't help the flush that crept up his cheeks as the other doctors laughed.

The rest of the day passed quickly and soon he was on his way home to get ready, the docs had continued to tease him for most of the day which he found funny but eventually it got irritating. Once he got in he picked out a black pair of slacks and a navy shirt to wear, he had booked a table at one of the nicer restaurants in town and he wanted to look good. Once he was satisfied with his outfit and his hair was tamed, he went out to his car and drove over to her house to pick her up. He didn't even get the chance to knock on her door before she had opened it and bounded out kissing him lightly on the cheek.

"Hi Dell, so where are we going tonight?" she asked smiling that beautiful smile that had first drawn his attention to her.

"Well that is for me to know and you to find out but trust me it's good" he smiled and gestured for her to walk ahead of him down to the car.

"So how was work today?" Susie asked.

"Oh, it was alright, nothing out of the ordinary really just check-ups, Addison delivered a baby and I got to help with that which was cool" he said smiling over at her in the passenger seat.

"Oh cool, so do you do a lot of things with Addison then?" she asked, and if Dell hadn't seen her smiling sweetly he would have sworn there was an accusatory tone in her voice.

"Not really only if she needs help with a delivery, but I help with any of the doctors if they need it" he answered, and she seemed to relax.

"Good, you've got me now you don't need to be spending time with anyone else" she said and he kind of liked the way she seemed so determined for this relationship to work out.

"Yeah, of course, right here we are I hope you like sushi" he said pulling up outside the restaurant.

"I love it" she said and they got out of the car and went into the restaurant. They talked constantly while the food was being prepared and he learned that she was working at a media company and hoped to get into advertising in the future, she liked to surf whenever she could and she had lived in LA all her life. He thought the night was going really well and began to wonder if Addison was right about him needing the protection, good thing he had one in his wallet.

"So, do you want to come in for a drink?" Susie asked Dell as they pulled up outside her house a few hours later.

"I could go for a drink" he said leaning over to kiss her which she returned. They went into her house and he dropped his car keys and phone on the table watching as she headed through to the kitchen to get the drinks. He sat down on the couch and waited looking around at her house which was well decorated and very modern like most of the houses in the area. After only a few minutes she came back and handed him a glass of wine, sitting down next to him.

"What do you say we take this to the next step" she asked leaning in close to him. They began kissing and he began to climb up on top of her when a loud beeping interrupted them, he instantly recognised it as his phone and pulled away to try and see who was calling him.

"Who is that? Is that one of those doctors you work with?" she said her tone suddenly accusing and angry.

"I don't know why anyone would be calling me tonight, I told them I was going out with someone tonight" he said more to himself than anything else as he got up to check who it was. Seeing it was just a sales call he declined the call and put it on silent.

"It was nothing, don't worry" he said but suddenly she was on her feet and marched over to him.

"No, it was one of those women you work with, they're interested in you" she said seeming very possessive all of a sudden.

"It was just a sales call I swear" he tried to re-assure her but suddenly she stamped on his foot and he cried out hopping over to the couch, she had been wearing heels and even through his shoes the stamp had really hurt.

"Oww what the hell was that?" he said confused at her sudden outburst.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry I didn't mean to do that, I just got angry at the thought of those women taking advantage of you, I'm so sorry again, I'll go get you an ice-pack" she said rushing away again leaving him even more confused but he found it kind of cute that she was already protective of him. She returned a moment later with the ice pack and he pulled off his shoe letting her put the ice pack on his foot, hissing slightly as she pushed it against his foot.

"I can't believe I've done this, I over-reacted I know you didn't mean to make me think you were seeing someone else" she said and he nodded.

"Of course not, we are dating now I should have just left my phone in the car" he said and she immediately leaned over to kiss him.

"So, do you want to get back to where we were before" she asked stroking his cheek lightly with a finger, but he didn't really feel in the mood anymore.

"I think I'm just going to head home, we are still on for Tuesday for dinner though and maybe we could do lunch as well sometime this week" he said standing awkwardly with his foot still sore.

"Yes of course, are you ok to drive with your foot" she asked her hand coming up to hold his upper arm almost as though she didn't want him to leave.

"I'll be fine, it doesn't really hurt that much" he lied ignoring the ache that accompanied every step he took as he headed out the front door. Once he was in his car by himself he pulled his sock off and saw that his foot was already bruising but he flexed it experimentally and determined that nothing was broken it was just going to be sore for a while. He drove home and went to bed falling asleep instantly.

The next morning the blaring of his alarm caused the usual mini heart attack moment as it pulled Dell from his sleep. He stretched out under the covers thinking back to how great last night had gone, they had had so much to talk about and he really liked her and it seemed the feeling was mutual. He rolled over and sat up a smile still on his face, but that disappeared as soon as his feet touched the floor, he had forgotten about how the night ended but now it all flooded back to him as he looked at his right foot that was slightly swollen and had turned purple overnight. He hobbled through to the bathroom and had a quick shower before going back to his bedroom and getting ready to go into work. By the time he was ready it was just gone 8 and he technically didn't have to be in until 9 but he always got there half an hour early so he could tidy up the practice and make sure all the offices were ready.

He pulled on his shoes to go to work luckily, they were stretched from him wearing them so long and so it didn't put pressure on his swollen foot. As he walked out to the car he realised that he was going to have to come up with an explanation as to why he is limping because they wouldn't understand if he told them the truth, he eventually settled on telling them that his chair went on his foot and he accidentally sat on it. That would explain the limping and avoided him having to explain that he had made her angry because she thought one of them was calling him.

He pulled into the car park outside the building and got out of the car swinging his rucksack over his shoulder. He tried to walk without limping but the pressure it put on his sore foot caused a sharp pain originating from the exact spot she had stomped on his foot. He took the lift up to the fourth floor and spent the next half an hour limping around the offices putting the notes that would be needed for the day in each doctor's room and by the time they began to arrive he was sat at the desk organising paperwork.

"Good morning Dell, did you have a good time last night?" Violet asked as she walked out of the elevator with Cooper and Pete.

"Morning, yeah it was really good, we went out for sushi and then I went back to her place for a drink afterwards" he said his face going dreamy as he thought back to the night before.

"Ok, ok we don't need to here anymore, I hope you listened to Addison's advice we don't need her coming in pregnant with mini Dell" Cooper said holding his hands up to block anything more from being said but Dell jumped in to correct them.

"No, nothing happened like that, we just had a drink and then I went home" he insisted but knew they didn't believe him and flushed red. Cooper leaned over the desk to pat him on the back.

"Well whatever happened sounds like she's a great girl for you" Cooper said grinning. "On a different note did you get the chance to dig out that chart I asked for you yesterday on the Henderson's" Cooper asked taking a sip of his coffee as he walked towards his desk.

"Oh yes I've got it right here" Dell said picking up the fie and getting up without even thinking to go and hand the file to him but as soon as his right foot touched the floor he winced and immediately sat down again.

"Woah, are you ok? How wild did it get last night?" Pete said jumping forwards as though he was going to catch him even though there was a desk in the way.

"No, it's my foot, I got it caught under the chair leg last night and sat on it, really finished the evening well" he said laughing and he could see smirks forming on all their faces.

"Were you nervous by any chance?" Cooper asked smiling and Dell just looked away to grab the file and stood up, this time careful not to put too much weight on his foot. He hobbled the few steps over to Cooper and handed him the file before hobbling back to sit in his chair, he could feel their eyes on him with every step.

"Have you had it looked at to see if it's broken?" Violet asked him tilting her head curiously.

"It's fine Violet, I would know if I'd broken it" he insisted wincing slightly as he accidentally caught the foot against the desk.

"You can walk on a broken foot and not know it's broken, I see it in kids all the time when they don't want to admit to their parents that they got hurt" Cooper said thoughtfully and Dell rolled his eyes at him.

"I'm not a kid Cooper in case you haven't noticed" Dell said laughing slightly but they are all looking at him seriously.

"Just take your shoe off Dell" Pete said crossing his arms and looking expectant. Dell sighed and began to undo his laces and carefully pulled his shoe off, then the sock. He was slightly surprised by how deep purple it had gone and realised that she really must have stamped on it hard to leave a mark like that. He was tempted to just put his shoe back on and tell them to leave it but knew that would only make it worse so instead he used his good foot to push himself over to the edge of his desk on the wheeled desk chair. He put his foot out where they could see it and instantly Pete kneeled down to get a better look.

"Jeez Dell, did you jump off the roof onto that chair or something, this is some bad bruising. Though you're right it's probably not broken" Pete said as he gently pressed on the bruising.

"Told you" Dell said triumphantly. Pete shook his head and stood back up, anything further that he might have said was cut off by the arrival of Addison and Naomi. Dell scooted back and pulled his sock and shoe on quickly while the others were distracted. Soon enough they all went back to their offices and another day began.

The next few weeks passed by without much happening, Dell and Susie would meet for lunch and he would go around to her house or her to his on most nights. There were no more incidents like the foot stomping one and he was starting to think that this could go further than just the occasional date he had planned when they first started dating. The others at the practice had been supportive and liked her, even though they had never actually met her. That is the only strange thing, he has offered to bring her into the practice several times so she could meet everyone but she always comes up with an excuse, and if he tried to pursue the topic further she would get angry at him and walk away for a bit, before coming back and asking if they can change the topic. One night when they are at her house having dinner and he finally decided to bring up the topic.

"So why don't you want to meet my friends, I know I've talked about them a lot but they really want to meet you and I think you would get on with them really well" Dell said hoping to persuade her.

"Why are you so desperate for me to meet them, I'm sure they're nice enough but am I not enough for you. Do you not like me is that it?" she said getting up from the table and going to leave but this time he jumped up and stepped in front of her.

"No, we've been going out for a while now and I wanted you to meet my friends, if you don't want too that's fine but you don't have to run away every-time" he shouted at her, before he could comprehend what was going on his head had snapped to the side and his cheek was stinging from where she had slapped him. His hand came up to touch his cheek and he was almost surprised to see he wasn't bleeding. Looking into her eyes he could see blazing anger and suddenly fear was twisting in his gut, he wanted to leave but in an instant the look was gone. She turned into the normal sweet girl he had been come to love over the last month or so.

"I'm so sorry Dell, I didn't mean to you just made me so angry, I just didn't want to meet them and I thought you would understand, I'm sorry, you'll probably never want to see me again now" she said going over to the sofa and sitting down with her head in her hands. He sighed and looked around the room trying to decide how to react, she had only slapped him and he had been getting in her face he mused so maybe he deserved this. Eventually he went over and sat down beside her putting a hand on her shoulder feeling her shakes as she sobbed.

"Look, I know you didn't mean it, it doesn't even hurt that much, why don't we just forget it ever happened hmm" he offered. She slowly sat up and looked at him her eyes red and puffy.

"Yes please, I'm so sorry Dell are you ok do you want me to get an ice-pack or something?" she asked going to get up but he pushed her back down lightly with the hand on her shoulder and instead stood up himself.

"No that's alright, I think I'm just going to go home for tonight, I'll see you tomorrow after work at my place, right?" he said smiling at her as she nodded hesitantly. As he drove home his cheek began to sting again and he wondered if he was going to end up with a bruise there, because that would be hard to explain tomorrow. He got back to his house and went straight to the kitchen to grab an ice pack, Susie had told him about her martial arts training on one of their dates and it seems she hadn't been exaggerating her abilities. He iced his cheek for half an hour and then decided to just go to bed and see what it looked like in the morning.

As he pulled into the parking lot the next morning he checked in the mirror to see how obvious the bruising was on his cheek. When he woke up that morning he had gone straight to the bathroom mirror and seen that there was a slight bruise on his cheek from where she had slapped him, he wondered how he was going to explain it because inevitably they were going to notice it when he went into work. He still hadn't figured out what he was going to say but knew he was going to have to think quick because he couldn't tell them Susie did it, they wouldn't understand that she hadn't really meant it and things were finally starting to go right for him and at the practice, so he didn't want to screw that up.

As the docs began to trickle in they all seemed to be absorbed in something or other, and none of them commented on his cheek until Sam came in.

"Hey everyone, I was thinking… Dell what happened to your cheek?" Sam said as he came into the kitchen where everyone was gathered. At his words everyone turned to Dell and he could feel himself shrinking from the eyes boring into him.

"What do you mean? Have I got something on my face?" he joked hoping to laugh it off, but had no such luck.

"Uhh no I'm saying why does it look like you've been slapped" Sam said and Addison who was sat next to him grabbed his jaw pulling his head around so she could see the bruise.

"It's nothing, I got back late last night and was tired and I opened the cupboard door and hit my face" he said making it up on the fly, somehow it seems they bought it though.

"Out late with Susie again then? Maybe you should hold back on the drinks if you're going to hit yourself with doors" Cooper joked before getting cuffed up the side of the head by Violet. He laughed at that and relaxed now that he knew they had bought it.

"Yeah, I didn't really have that many just been having a lot of late nights out with her, she always wants to spend time together" he said.

"Hey, don't rub it in our faces how much you're getting, honestly you could share some of it around if you were feeling nice" Cooper said leading to him getting slapped by Naomi this time. "Hey ok I get the message, no need to hit me" Cooper said. As the conversation moved along Dell was left in his thoughts, he wondered whether it was right for him to be hiding the truth like this but he was just doing what was best for his relationship with Susie, the others might not accept her if they knew the truth, it was better this way he decided.

It was a week this time before the next incident, she came around to his house for dinner and he had spent all afternoon cooking, as he was bringing out a bowl of soup he tripped and some of it got on her dress. Before he had the chance to say anything she had stood up suddenly and elbowed him in the side of the chest, he doubled over dropping the bowl to the floor completely and wrapped his hands around his chest.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry I just reacted, it's how they taught us in martial arts, I just was angry that you had spilled the soup since it looked so good, and oh come here darling" she said coming over to him, but he found himself flinching as she reached out to touch him. She clearly didn't like this as she withdrew her hands and started getting angry.

"What's the matter it was just a little hit honestly you want to feel what it's like to get hit by my instructor, he can break peoples' ribs in a single punch" she said which did little to re-assure him since it felt like she had already done that too him.

"I'll go get the main course" he said to her and quickly disappeared into the kitchen. After she left that night he got out an ice pack and put it against where she had hit him, a check of his ribs in the morning revealed some livid bruising but it wasn't broken. Work was going to be difficult, but he managed to get through the next day alright hiding his wincing by ducking his head and just trying to avoid the others as much as he could without it being suspicious.

That evening he was late showing up to the house and ran up hoping she wasn't upset. He knocked on the door and she opened it, he put his hand in the doorframe expecting her to open it but the chain was still on so she slammed the door shut to take the chain off. He cried out loudly as the door slammed on his knuckles and pulled them away as soon as the door opened cradling his hand carefully in the other one.

"Oh ow, dammit" he shouted jumping around as his hand throbbed in time with his heartbeat.

"I'm sorry let me see" Susie said coming out and grabbing his hand pulling it to her rather roughly. "That looks sore, you really shouldn't put your hand in the door, I was just so worried because you were running late and you hadn't called" she said and he tilted his head confused somehow, she had managed to turn it around so it was his fault that she shut his hand in the door. He thought about it and mused that she probably didn't know it was there and he shouldn't have put it there anyway so he allowed her to lead him over to the couch and he sat down while she rushed off to get an icepack again.

For the first time he looked down at his hand which was still throbbing like crazy, and he now noticed that there was a jagged cut going across his three of his knuckles and the area was already swollen and red. Seeing the blood dripping down his hand made him suddenly feel shaky, he was used to handling other peoples' injuries, but he'd never been that good with his own. Susie came back from the kitchen with an icepack which she handed to him before sitting down and putting her head on his shoulder leaning in sweetly.

"You know I'm sorry right, I just didn't like you being late and I was so excited that you were here that I shut the door, I thought you had moved your hand" she said and Dell felt his stomach twist slightly as he realised she had done this on purpose. Or had she because she said she thought he'd moved his hand but if she knew his hand was there why would she slam it so hard. He was pulled from his musings as she stood up.

"Shall we have dinner then?" she said moving on as though he had got a paper-cut rather than still being sat there cradling his crushed hand. "It's not broken and I've already cooked for you, you don't want to waste it do you, I'm sure one of your friends at work will check it tomorrow for you, you can tell them it was an accident, right?" she said carefully emphasising the word friends and again he became uncertain of what to do but eventually he opted to simply nod and follow her over to the table. He got through the meal alright having to use his left hand to do almost everything and be careful not to bend his hand lest he re-open the scab that had started to form, then as he was leaving, she even offered to drive him home because of the hand but he insisted it was fine. He just wanted to get home and sort his hand out, though he did promise that he would see her again the next night.

The drive home was difficult, but he was able to move his hand by now, so he was careful and made it home in one piece having to wipe some blood off the steering wheel before he went inside and locked the door behind him. He went straight to the bathroom and turned the faucet on holding his hand under the cold stream of water sighing as the relief that it brought to the aching knuckles was so amazing he was tempted to sit there all night. He knew he couldn't do that though and so he opened the medicine cabinet above the sink and found a bottle of disinfectant and cotton wool. He carefully cleaned the wound gritting his teeth against the burn because he knows it's got to be done and then he looks through what he's got to see if he has anything to wrap his hand. All he finds is an old packet of band-aids none of which are really ideal, the wound isn't deep but cleaning it has re-started the bleeding and he really should wrap it to support it until it's healed. Eventually he settles on wrapping a clean tea towel around his knuckles to stop the blood from getting on his bedsheets and he fell into bed again since it was already midnight and he needed to leave for work in 8 hours.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, he woke and the throbbing in his hand had finally abated slightly, he flexed it experimentally and found that he could move his fingers but making a fist with the hand nearly made his eyes water. He did wonder at first if his knuckles were broken but if that were the case he knew that he wouldn't be able to make a fist. His bigger problem than lack of mobility in it though was the fact that his knuckles were going a deep purple and the cut on the back of his hand was scabbed over but seemed very dark in colour and slightly gooey, he needed to clean it out again and wrap it in proper bandages not a tea towel.

With this in mind he rushed through getting dressed and got to the practice by quarter past eight and rushed around cleaning up the practice and put all the notes out, but this took longer than he thought it would and it was already 20 minutes to 9 when he was done. He quickly went back to one of the exam rooms and pulled out disinfectant, gauze and bandages. He splashed some of the disinfectant out onto the gauze and carefully cleaned the wound, having to bite his lip to stop himself from crying out. He got it as clean as he could without it being unbearable and got some fresh gauze which he put over the wound and taped it in place. He only had the bandages left to do and quickly began winding it around his hand careful to do it tight enough to support his hand but not so tight it was cutting off the blood supply, which wasn't easy to achieve when he was doing it to himself. He had only just taped down the end of the gauze when he heard voices out in the corridor. He couldn't be found in here like this and so he threw everything in the bin and closed the open cupboards before pulling down his sleeve to cover as much of his hand as he could. He had purposefully worn a sweater with long sleeves so that he would be able to hide his hand but still the stark white bandages were rather obvious. With no time left to do anything else he went out into the corridor.

"Dell, we were wondering where you were… why were you in the exam rooms?" Cooper asked jumping straight to the point, and he subconsciously puts his right hand behind his back slightly.

"Oh umm, I was just checking stock in there" he said vaguely, he couldn't come up with anything better on the spot and he could tell that neither Cooper nor Pete or Addison were buying it but they seemed to let it go for the minute at least as they turned to go back to the kitchen. He followed along behind them keeping his hand close to his side to avoid it getting hit with anything or more importantly anyone seeing it.

"Dell there you are, you running late this morning, normally you're out front by the time we get here" Sam asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Umm yeah, and then I decided to go check the exam rooms in case they needed a tidy" he said looking down at the floor as he spoke.

"I thought you said you were checking stock?" Addison piped up and he felt himself panicking slightly.

"Yeah, I was, and I checked to see if they needed a tidy as well" he said bringing both of his hands in front of him covering the right with his left, so the edge of the bandage was still covered. His heart was hammering in his chest as they stared at him and he wondered if he had done something wrong again, but they moved on again a new conversation about a patient starting and he used this opportunity to slip back out into the waiting room where he had to stop and take a few deep breaths to get himself under control again.

Just as he began to feel his heart rate slow down a hand landed on his shoulder and he panicked. He spun around stumbled backwards away from the person his heart beating wildly in his chest and his breathing ragged as he looked up to see it was just Pete. The older man had stepped away from him and held his hands up in surrender, but in that moment Dell had thought it was Susie ready to hit him. He couldn't believe that he had just reacted like that in front of one of the people here. Pete was looking at him concerned now.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you" Pete said reaching out again to touch his arm, but he stepped back instinctively, not wanting to be touched and again Pete withdrew his hands.

"You didn't it's fine" he mumbled and turned walking away, he didn't bother to look back to see if he was being followed, instead making straight for the restroom. Once he was in there he locked the door so that none of them could follow him in and sat on the floor against the sinks, just focussing on his breathing. His breaths shuddered in and out of his chest as the look in Susie's eyes flashed through his mind, at the time he hadn't thought anything of it but now he could see the anger in her eyes and he was afraid of her. It took a little while but eventually he felt he had control of himself again and he got to his feet and left the restroom. He was surprised to find the hallway outside empty since he had expected them all to be waiting outside by now but his questions were answered when he saw everyone was sat in the waiting room and they all looked up as he came in.

"Hey, sorry bathroom break" he said quietly as he stood awkwardly by his desk.

"Yeah, that's fine, is everything alright with you Dell?" Violet asked and he had to fight to stop himself backing away as he realised, they had noticed something was going on.

"Yes, I'm good, why do you ask?" he said trying to act nonchalant.

"We've all noticed you've been behaving differently recently, and we just wanted to check. Pete said you looked terrified when he just tapped you on the shoulder earlier so what's going on with you?" she replied, and he could feel their eyes on him.

"Well, everything's fine so you can just leave it" he said a bit more harshly than he meant to, as he spoke, he raised his hands to make a point and by the time he realised the bandages were plainly in sight and pulled them down again it was too late. Pete got up and came over to him, this time careful to hold his hands up to him and he stayed a metre or so away from him and held his hand out.

"Can I see your hand Dell?" Pete asked looking him straight in the eyes, which made Dell uncomfortable and he bit his lip again looking over at the others who were also watching him intently. He couldn't run away this time and so he pulled his sleeve up and held his hand out, as he did that the rest of them got up and came around to see what Pete was looking at. There was already a thin strip of blood that had soaked through it and he realised he probably was too rough with cleaning it and reopened it. Pete gently took the hand in his and looked back up into his eyes asking for permission to undo the bandages, to which Dell just nods. Pete unwinds the bandage slowly, but Dell can't help but stiffen and grit his teeth as the pain in his ribs and hand seem to be fighting for supremacy. Once the bandage is off he pulls his hand away, not letting him take the gauze off yet which is soaked through with blood.

"Look, we've got patients coming in soon we can do this later" he tried to change their minds, but he was met with matching glares from all of them, and he knew it was a resounding 'no'.

"None of us have patients for the first hour today because we were supposed to be having a meeting but this is more important Dell, now let Pete look at your hand" Naomi said looking concerned.

"Alright" he said finally giving in with a sigh he held out his hand to Pete, who slowly pulled the tape off his skin and carefully pulled the blood-soaked gauze off the wound on the back of his hand. All 4 of his knuckles were bruised and swollen and the cut on his hand had immediately begun bleeding sluggishly again.

"What happened Dell?" Pete asked him but Dell could barely hear him. He was so busy staring at his hand, and he could feel himself getting shaky like when it initially happened. "Dell, you need to talk to us" Pete said crouching slightly to look him in the eyes, but his gaze was completely focussed on his hand.

"Uhh… I umm… I need to sit down" he managed to get out as he began to feel light-headed and just as his knees gave way, he saw Cooper and Pete suddenly moving in next to him and they each grabbed one of his arms pulling him over to a seat in the waiting area and carefully lower him into it. Pete has already got hold of his wrist checking his pulse which he knows is very high considering the fluttering he can feel in his chest.

"Dell, you're having a panic attack ok just focus on my breathing, breathe in time with me" Pete says, and Dell feels Pete holding his left hand against his chest. He focussed on the slow and steady expansion then deflation of Pete's chest and eventually he felt his heart calm to a more normal rate, and he looked back up around the room to see that everyone now looked extremely concerned.

"Are you ready to tell us what's going on now?" Pete asked bringing his focus back onto the older man.

"It's nothing, or at least I think it's nothing…" he trailed off unsure of how to even start telling them something like this.

"Just tell us and then we can help you with it, but we can't help if we don't know what the problem is" Pete re-assured him, and he took a deep breath before he went for it.

"It's Susie" he said, and they all immediately looked confused.

"The girl you've been dating did she do this to you?" Cooper asked.

"Well I didn't really think anything of it at first, you remember that time I told you I sat on my foot" He paused as they all nodded. "Well, she actually stomped on my foot because she thought I was paying too much attention to you guys and not enough to her" he said and stopped there for a moment to see how they were taking it, but they all seemed to be remaining neutral.

"Umm then a few weeks later, I said I hit my cheek on the door… she hit me because I wanted her to meet you guys and she said that I was ignoring her and that I was making her angry. Then 2 days ago I tripped and spilled some soup on her dress, and she elbowed me in the side, and considering how good she is at martial arts I'm still 50/50 on whether she's cracked a rib or not" he said the last bit while shifting around slightly suddenly reminded of the pain from that particular hit. They were still looking at him expectantly through carefully neutral masks covering anything they might actually be thinking.

"Right and then we come to last night, I was late showing up, only by ten minutes or so but she was angry and when she opened the door the chain was still on so she saw it was me and closed it to take that chain off, but I had put my hand in the door and she slammed it on my knuckles. I thought it was an accident, but she told me afterwards that she had seen it there and that it would teach me not to do it again" he said the last part while looking determinedly at the floor refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"I thought it would get better, or they were one off incidents but she just keeps doing things like this and sometimes she'll punch me in the arm or something and say it was just a joke but she hits hard enough to bruise and I know I could hit her back but I won't do that and she is trained in martial arts anyway so it would probably just be worse for me" he continued and finally tailed off into silence waiting for one of them to say something.

For a while no-one in the room moves and Dell feels the tension building and he worries that they are angry at him, maybe he shouldn't have said anything. He can handle what she does to him.

"Dell, why didn't you tell us the truth?" Violet asked, but Dell didn't look up from the floor only shrugging in response.

"You said she hit you the other night, can you show me?" Pete says and finally Dell brings his eyes up to meet the other man, relieved to see no anger in his face, only concern. Dell nods and pulls his shirt up to reveal bruising on his left side which looked much darker than when he checked it the other night. Pete gently presses against his ribs and he can't hold in the groan of pain that escapes him, Pete winces in sympathy before moving his hands away again and allowing Dell to lower his shirt.

"She's not going to stop Dell, people like this, they will keep hurting you and it's only going to get worse" Violet said walking over to him.

"I know, it just seemed to be going so well and most of the time she's perfect, so I thought I could live with the occasional thing, but I'm starting to be scared of her" he admitted quietly. He felt arms wrap around his torso lightly and he stiffened at first but relaxed once he realised it was Violet. He allowed her to hug him and felt tears brimming over in his eyes, but he pulled away after only a moment or so and looked up around the room to see the others all had mixes of shock and anger on their faces. He again found himself shrinking away from them because of the anger but he knew what he needed to do.

"Dell, why don't you come back, and I can wrap your hand up properly?" Pete said getting back to his feet. Dell nods and stands up slowly mindful of the dizziness he is still feeling. He follows Pete back to one of the exam rooms and sits in silence as the doctor gently dabs at the wound to clean it and then puts fresh gauze on it and proceeds to wrap his hand up much more efficiently than Dell had been able to do on his own. He offers him some painkillers, but Dell just shakes his head and stands up thanking Pete briefly before heading back out to the waiting room to get his bag. He sticks his head into the kitchen ignoring the way that the room falls silent abruptly at his entrance and looks straight to Naomi.

"I need to go somewhere, I'll be back in half an hour" he said and turned to go but Naomi surged out into the corridor after him.

"Where are you going Dell, you're not going to see her are you, you should be calling the police on her" Naomi started rambling, but Dell shook his head.

"I'm just going to tell her that it's over, I have to do this in person" Dell insisted and turned walking away before anyone could say anything further. He went back down to his car and drove out of the parking lot straight towards her house. She wouldn't have left for work yet and, so he should be able to catch her. Sure enough, he pulled up outside and her car was still outside.

He stepped out of the car mindful of his hand and ribs which were beginning to protest at the fast movements and the hammering in his chest certainly didn't help. He rang the doorbell and waited patiently trying not to think about how scared he was of her. The door swung open revealing her clearly dressed for work and about to go out.

"Dell, what are you doing here? We are supposed to be meeting tonight, has your hand started to affect that tiny brain of yours as well?" she mocked him continuing to run around the house to get ready to go out. He flinched slightly at the insult but forced himself to go on with what he had come here to do.

"About that Susie, I don't think we should see each other anymore. I have tried to make it work but my friends saw my hand this morning and I know now that you aren't going to stop doing this sort of thing. I'm sorry to turn up like this but I thought I owed it to you to do this in person" he finished looking down at the floor waiting for her response. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting to happen but what actually did was certainly a surprise.

"It's your idiot friends, I've told you Dell they're bad for you and you've gone and let them make you think it's me that's the problem" she half shouted, and he began to back out of the doorway, but she grabbed him by his sore hand and dragged him forwards squeezing painfully on the hand to get him to follow and kicked the door shut as she did so.

"No, I can't do this anymore, you hurt me, and I only needed them to point it out to me, but this decision was all mine" he said desperately trying again to back towards the door, but the fist caught him off guard. She punched him hard on the right cheek knocking him to the floor, he thought that would be the end of it, but she started kicking him repeatedly, her shoes digging painfully into his ribs and stomach. He curled up instinctively trying to protect as much of him as he could just waiting for her to stop, but it seemed to go on forever before she gave one final harsh kick to the exact spot that was already sore, and he is certain he felt several of his ribs give way.

"Why do you make me do this Dell, I want to help you, but you keep making me hurt you?" she screamed, and he took the opportunity to roll away from her and try to catch his breath. This was far worse than anything she had ever done to him before, he gasped frantically but it felt like his entire torso was on fire with each kick fighting the others to be the most painful. She seemed content to shout for now, but he knew she would probably come after him again, so he forced himself up onto his hands and knees and then up onto his feet. He could barely draw a breath in but somehow, he still managed to get to the door and open it again before she realised, he was trying to leave. She screamed at him and grabbed his arm again presumably to try and pull him back inside but this time he pulled away from her.

"Fine, go you'll never find anyone who loves you like I do" she shouted shoving him away from her. He tripped on the steps down to the pavement and ended up flat on his face but not before landing painfully on his already injured hand. He heard the door slam behind her as she went back into the house and he lay there just grateful that she wasn't hitting him anymore.

He knew that he needed to get up and move before she came out to have another go, so he rolled over onto his back and sat up. The slight pain from the original hit to his chest was now overwhelmed by the fire ripping its way through him every time he tried to draw in even the slightest breath. He scrabbled slightly as he struggled to get his feet under him, but he managed it and staggered the few steps it took to reach his car, unlocking it quickly and dropping down into the driver's seat. He started the car up and took a moment to collect himself and focus on the road before slowly pulling the car out onto the road.

The drive back to the practice took longer than it usually would because he purposefully stayed at about 25 ignoring the honks from cars behind him, and by the time he parked the car he was shaking. The adrenaline had completely worn off by now and he was taking shallow pants to avoid having to expand his chest and aggravate his ribs. He turned the car off and sat just trying to calm down, but he knew he needed to get help, with this in mind he shifted around in the seat so that he could pull his phone out of his pocket. He flipped it open and dialled the main number for the practice knowing someone would answer the phone.

"Hello, Oceanside Wellness, how can I help you?" Dell recognized Pete's voice even over the phone and sighed softly knowing this wasn't going to go down well.

"Pete, I umm…" Dell trailed off not sure how to phrase this and feeling his ribs give another twinge as he took a deeper breath to allow him to talk.

"Dell, where are you? What's going on? We were starting to get worried" Pete said, and Dell heard the tell-tale rustling of him covering the microphone, so he could talk to someone in the background, they had no doubt been waiting for him to come back.

"I'm in the car park, I finished things with Susie" Dell replied.

"Good, she wasn't going to stop and it's better if you leave before you get seriously hurt" Pete said unintentionally bringing them straight to the point.

"Funny you should mention that" Dell laughed softly, the sound quickly being cut off by a groan at the pain.

"Did she hit you again Dell?" Pete asked sounding concerned.

"Can you just come down to the car park, it'll be easier in person and I don't think I can make it up to you" Dell requested feeling guilty for having to take Pete away from the practice but knowing he needed help.

"Me and Coop are on our way, just sit tight" Pete responded quickly before the line went dead with a click. Dell flipped his phone shut and tossed it gently onto the passenger seat. It was only a few minutes later when the main door opened, and Dell saw Cooper and Pete burst out of the building both pairs of eyes roving across the lot before coming to rest on Dell's car. They came over to the car and Pete opened the driver's door kneeling down next to him.

"Hey, what happened? Are you ok?" Pete asked, the other man's eyes seemingly glued to his face and Dell realized he likely had bruises on his face from the punch and falling down the steps, but they couldn't see any of his other injuries yet.

"I told her it was over and apparently she didn't like that very much" Dell whispered not trusting his voice enough to speak any louder.

"Right, we'll talk that over later let's just check you're ok first. Where are you hurt?" Pete said obviously not meaning to be insensitive, but his priority was to check Dell was alright physically before anything else.

"She caught my head a few times while she was kicking me even though I tried to protect my head, and my chest feels like it's on fire from the number of times she kicked me, I felt a few of my ribs breaking. I was going to try and walk up, but I can't breathe, and I'd rather not pass out on the stairs." Dell said the two men processing all of that and he saw the anger in their eyes that was quickly shoved aside by concern.

"You did the right thing" Pete assured him as he reached into the car and gently pulled Dell's t-shirt up, Dell looked down with them and even he was surprised by the amount of bruising, he could clearly see each kick that he had received forming into dark red bruising and that was only what he could see on his stomach and chest he knew his back was just as bad. Cooper and Pete let out low curses at the sight of it and Cooper moved out of view for a second before coming back with a forced smile on his face that made Dell's stomach churn.

"Right, we need to get you inside and you might have to go over to St Ambrose" Pete said rubbing a hand through his hair before standing up. Dell turned around in his seat so that his feet were on the floor and slowly stood up out of the car, as soon as he's upright his vision begins to spark, and shift and he wonders if he is going to be able to stay upright. The two doctors notice his struggle instantly though and he soon finds himself supported between them and Pete has somehow locked his car and has his keys in hand all while Dell was trying to stand up. They began the slow walk over to the building and into the lift that will take them upstairs. Dell can feel his breathing getting harder the further they go, and the agony in his chest just seems to be intensifying. By the time the doors open on their floor he is pretty much ready to collapse, and its only Cooper and Pete's firm grip on him that is keeping him upright. They get into the waiting area which is blessedly devoid of patients, unfortunately though the remaining doctors are waiting in there for him to get back and he hears Naomi gasp at the sight of him.

"Oh my god, Dell I knew I should have stopped you going to see her" Naomi said sounding as though she was blaming herself for what had happened to him, he tried to draw in a breath to assure her it wasn't her fault, but the deeper inhale caused a sudden blinding pain on the right side of his chest. He knew that he had broken one if not more ribs on that side, so that couldn't be a good sign. He coughed trying to clear his chest, but he couldn't seem to get any air in, and the cough left him with a metallic taste in his mouth which he realised must be blood.

"Dell, what's the matter? What's going on?" Naomi begged frantically seemingly having forgotten that she was a doctor but luckily Cooper and Pete seemed to remember their jobs as they dragged him on through to one of the treatment rooms and with the help of Sam lifted him up onto the bed in the centre of the room.

"Dell, can you talk to us? We need to know what's going on" Pete was trying to talk to him, but he couldn't get any words out. He broke into a coughing fit his lungs trying desperately to work but as he pulled his hand away from his mouth, he saw it was flecked with blood. As he allowed his hand to fall back down at his side the others must have seen the blood because Sam immediately left the room saying that he was going to call an ambulance. Cooper pulled an oxygen mask out from behind the bed and put it over Dell's mouth and nose wrapping the strap around the back of his head. Pete cut a slit down the front of his shirt pulling the fabric aside to expose his torso and the myriad of bruises covering it. He had a stethoscope in his ears quickly, the other end moving around Dell's chest as he frantically tried to pull in air that just wouldn't seem to come in.

"Absent breath sounds on the right, it's a tension pneumothorax" Pete reported, spurring everyone around him into a panic as Cooper grabbed the needle Pete asked him for and handed it over. Dell watched his eyes wide and frantically gasping as Pete plunged the needle into his chest. Suddenly the pressure in his chest disappeared and he coughed violently, gasping in precious lungsful of air in between coughs.

"Easy Dell, deep breaths as deep as you can, that's it" Pete encouraged him. At the same moment Sam came back in to say the ambulance should be there in 5 minutes.

"Right, I'll get an IV in and then you can have some morphine Dell" Pete said sliding the needle into Dell's arm and accepting the dose of morphine from Cooper. Once the drug had entered his system the pain dulled significantly, and Dell felt himself practically melting into the bed, and would have lost consciousness if it wasn't for Pete calling to him insistently and shaking his shoulder.

"No, come on you need to stay awake, so we can monitor you, can you tell me where you are Dell?" Pete urged, and Dell rolled his eyes slightly.

"Oceanside Wellness" Dell responded his voice weak and rough.

"Good, that's good Dell, just stay awake and keep breathing deep and slow" Pete smiled at him, but it looked extremely forced and Dell could see Naomi in the background with her hand over her mouth looking as though she's trying not to cry. A commotion in the corridor heralds the arrival of the ambulance and soon everything becomes a blur of answering the same questions over and over again and people poking and prodding at him and lifting him across onto a different gurney. At some point he must have lost consciousness because the next thing he knows he is waking up in a hospital bed.

They must have given him the good drugs because he can't feel any pain in his body, and as he opens his eyes and looks around, he sees Violet and Cooper asleep on a sofa in the corner, and Pete was sat in a chair beside his bed reading a chart.

"Hey" Dell rasps quietly. Pete's head snaps up to look at him and he puts the chart down on the table at the end of the bed.

"Hey yourself, how are you feeling?" Pete says smiling at him.

"Like I'm floating, so I guess there must be something good in the IV" Dell said, as he shifted for the first time, he felt something tugging at the side of his chest and looking down at himself he was surprised to see that there was a chest tube in the right side of his chest.

"Try not to move, we had to put in a chest tube, because your lung collapsed but the tear should heal on its own and then we can take the tube out" Pete explained putting his hand on Dell's shoulder to stop him moving any further.

"That bad huh?" Dell mused quietly trying not to freak out too much about the hole in his chest.

"The police will want to talk to you at some point soon and they have Susie in custody for this" Pete said, and Dell nodded already expecting them to have been called since she had nearly killed him.

"I'll tell them everything, but don't know if I can stay awake long enough right now" Dell said already feeling his eyelids drooping again.

"It's ok, just go back to sleep we'll still be here when you wake up" Pete re-assured him, and he drifted off again.

Over the next few days he wakes up for brief periods always to at least one of the doctors waiting in the room with him, and gives his statement to the police, but still can't stay awake for more than an hour, before he succumbs to the drugs again. It's on the third day that he finally wakes up and feels much more lucid, looking down he sees that the chest tube is gone, and he only has a nasal cannula in now rather than the oxygen mask he had been wearing up until now. Looking around the room he sees that he has also been moved out of the ICU, and this time only Naomi and Pete are in the room with him.

"Dell, are you awake sweetie?" Naomi asked him noticing his eyes are open.

"Yes" he responded rolling his head up to look at her.

"How do you feel?" she asks him nudging Pete to get him to wake up from where he'd been dozing next to her.

"Better, can I get some water?" Dell asked, and Naomi poured a cup of water going to hold the straw to his mouth, but he brought his hand up and took it from her with an extremely shaky hand. She still stayed near in case he dropped the cup, but he managed to take a few sips and then hand it back to her, which got a smile from her.

"When did the tube come out?" Dell asked, now that his throat felt better after drinking something.

"About 4 hours ago, you've been in and out since then but weren't making much sense in any of those" Pete said eyes glancing to the monitors behind Dell's bed. "You should be able to leave tomorrow, but you are coming home with me for at least the next two weeks while you're recovering, and I won't take no for an answer on that" Pete said and Dell only smirked.

"Don't worry I'm not going to object, I know once the IV is gone this is going to be tough" Dell said. Naomi's hand touched his cheek softly and he could see tears in her eyes as he looked over at her.

"I'm ok Nay" he said not wanting her to cry but this only seemed to make her cry more.

"I'm sorry, it's just there were so many points I thought we were going to lose you, you crashed in the ambulance and then twice once we got you here" Naomi explained tears now streaming down her face. His eyes widened slightly, and he felt his heart flutter a bit with this new piece of information, the monitor behind him began beeping and Pete stepped in quickly.

"Dell, it's alright, we got you back and you are out of the woods now, Naomi why don't you go let the others know he's awake" Pete insisted practically pushing Naomi out of the door. Pete sat back down once Naomi had gone and soon enough the others came in to see him.

"Hey Dell, how are you feeling?" Addison asked as the doctors all filed into the room.

"Right now, amazing but I suspect that's the drugs" Dell said laughing softly which turned into a cough, but he breathed through it and didn't have anyone lunging to help him, so he counted it as a positive. The others began updating him on what had been going on while he was in the hospital, but he didn't hear much of it since he was drifting off to sleep again.

"If you need anything just tell one of us, you don't have to come back today if you're not ready" Pete said fussing around Dell as they walked into the practice from the car for Dell's first day back since he got out of the hospital 3 weeks ago.

"I'm fine, and I was going crazy being stuck inside for so long, even though you were amazing. I'm grateful for your help honestly but I need to get back to work" Dell insisted, and Pete only nodded smiling.

"Of course, you are, I just want you to know we are all here for you in this." Pete said.

"I know, thank you all of you" Dell said smiling slightly.


End file.
